12:18 28.07.2015

OSCE SMM patrol leader hurt during Shyrokyne shell – report

2 min read
OSCE SMM patrol leader hurt during Shyrokyne shell – report

A patrol leader of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) was hurt by concrete debris as a result of a shell attack on Shyrokyne.

This follows from the mission's report released on Monday.

The observers reported that at 11:15 on 27 July, an SMM patrol comprised of two vehicles entered Shyrokyne (100km south of Donetsk, 20km east of Mariupol) and found the village to be calm.

Later on, the SMM heard one shot of automatic grenade fire, outgoing from a north-easterly direction, a burst of small-arms fire outgoing from the north-west.

"Right after this, the SMM heard in the air the sound of sniper rounds outgoing from the south, at which point the patrol leader instructed the patrol via radio to depart immediately," the report said.

"At the same time, the SMM saw three men behind a building 50m north of SMM's position. A rifle shot was heard outgoing from there. Seconds later, an explosion occurred 5m from the SMM patrol leader, who was knocked down as a result. He was struck by concrete debris caused by the impact and his helmet was pierced," it said.

The SMM left the area few minutes later and en route to Mariupol (government-controlled, 102km south of Donetsk) the paramedic in the team provided medical care to the injured SMM member. He was then taken to the hospital in Mariupol. He suffered a mild concussion and a bruise of the right leg. He has been released from hospital.

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